THE BEAN BOY

by Joan Chase Bowden ‧ RELEASE DATE: Feb. 5, 1979

You've met them often enough before--the poor old woman and her old man who are very sad because they have no children. Instead of a Gingerbread. . . or Clay Pot Boy or Wooden Baby, this couple carves a little boy out of their only possession, a bean in a bowl. And as the bean boy can't walk or talk by itself, the woman takes it off into the world to seek a fortune. But the bean boy is soon eaten by a rooster (.""Please take my rooster instead,"" says its owner to the woman), the rooster is later eaten by a cat (""Please take my cat instead,"" says its owner), and the old woman has worked up through a dog, a pig, and a donkey before she runs into the king--who is so amused when all the animals suddenly cough each other up in the middle of her story that he moves them into the palace so she can tell it again ""every day for the rest of his life."" The old folk-tale motifs and patterns that structure the story lend themselves well to easy reading, but Bowden is not the first to so apply them and this is only a workaday variation on familiar themes.

Pub Date: Feb. 5, 1979

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Macmillan

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1979

Categories: CHILDREN'S